9 Garden Street Essendon VIC 3040

| New build in established Essendon pocket | Four-car garage rare for 555sqm | Auction May 23, no price guide needed | Zoned for Strathmore Secondary | The buying case rests on a rare combination: a newly built four-bedroom house on a standard Essendon lot that includes four off-street car spaces and a 169sqm footprint with 30% site coverage. This configuration suits a family seeking modern finishes, ducted cooling, and an outdoor entertainment area without the compromise of a smaller garage or shared driveway. The property sits in a premier pocket with no heritage or flood overlays, zoned for Essendon Primary and Strathmore Secondary College, which reduces schooling risk for buyers with children. The auction format on 23 May suggests the vendor expects competitive interest, and the absence of a fixed price allows the market to set the value. The primary risk is the gap between the current listing range and the October 2024 sale price of $1.255m for the pre-rebuild two-bedroom house. While the rebuild justifies a premium, buyers must verify build quality, council approvals, and whether the 169sqm floor plan meets long-term family needs relative to other new builds in the area. The estimated rental income of $1,010pw supports a hold strategy if purchase price falls below $2.9m, but above that, the yield drops below 1.8%, making this a consumption purchase rather than an investment. Buyers should commission a building and pest inspection before auction and set a firm bid limit based on comparable new builds in Essendon, not the vendor’s aspirational range.